Ping raps attempts to link him to Parojinog ambush

Sen. Panfilo Lacson lashed yesterday at attempts to link him to the ambush in Ermita of Misamis Occidental provincial board member Renato Parojinog, a former leader of the Kuratong Baleleng gang.

Lacson said he saw the "ugly hand of a dirty tricks department" in the attempt to connect him to the assassination of Parojinog in Ermita the other night.

He claimed that the people behind the scheme have also started to conduct media conferences and gimmicks to prop up public interest in the Kuratong Baleleng case in time for the scheduled oral arguments in the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

"In all my 30 years in law enforcement, this is the first time that I hear of such a stupid and insensible theory," said Lacson, former chief of the Philippine National Police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force.

He contended that it does not make sense to connect the ambush-slaying of Parojinog to the upcoming oral arguments in the Supreme Court to resolve the issue of the legality of the reopening of the Kuratong Baleleng case.

Lacson’s stand was shared by a brother of Parojinog, Ozamiz City Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog.

"I am sure that this has nothing to do with the Kuratong Baleleng issue. My brother was killed because of politics," Mayor Parojinog said in a press statement.

He also insisted that his brother’s presence in Metro Manila had nothing to do with the Kuratong Baleleng gang.

"He was just following up the different infrastructure projects he had initiated in his home district," he said.

Meanwhile, elements of the Western Police District are now scouring various hospitals and clinics in Metro Manila following reports that the killer of Parojinog was seriously wounded in a shootout with the victim’s bodyguards.

Chief Superintendent Nicolas Pasinos, WPD director, cited a witness who said the gunman was shot in the back by one of Parojinog’s bodyguards.

At the same time, Pasinos also raised the possibility that the assassin could now be dead.

He explained that if the assassin was indeed shot, then going to a hospital or treatment would be the last thing he would do.

"It is possible that he returned to his safehouse where medical attention was not immediately possible," Pasinos said.

He added that it is also possible that the assassin had been silenced by his handlers.

Superintendent Manolo Martinez, commander of the Ermita police station, said they are questioning a woman who was reportedly with Parojinog shortly before he was shot.

He said the woman, whom he refused to identify, befriended Parojinog and his bodyguard Emmanuel Roa at the Cebu City international airport, and joined the two to Manila.

"According to the woman, Parojinog had been receiving several visitors in his (Corporate Inn Hotel) room since last Thursday," Martinez said.

Police said the lone assassin shot Parojinog in the right chest when their taxi stopped at a red light. Later, Parojinog’s bodyguards engaged the gunman in a firefight. One of his bodyguards was hit, while two bystanders were caught in the crossfire.

Police said the suspect escaped aboard a motorcycle in tandem with another suspect.

Parojinog, 42, died at the Manila Doctors Hospital hours la-ter after the ambush. One of his three bodyguards, Army Technical Sergeant Perlito Agabon, was rushed to the same hospital. Agabon was in stable condition after undergoing a second operation yesterday. – With Mark Francisco, Lino dela Cruz, Non Alquitran